This is meant to clearly outline the dictates of the whole teaching profession as you step out there into the teaching field.
What is a teaching portfolio?
A teaching portfolio is a structured collection of artefacts or documents that will change over time as
you extend your practice, evaluate your teaching, reflect, and act on the results of evaluations, and
design different and more effective approaches to your teaching.
The selection of artefacts to include
in the teaching portfolio is driven by the specific criteria against which the portfolio will be assessed.
For example, whether you are preparing a portfolio of evidence for appointment, tenure, probation,
promotion, or teaching awards or fellowships, will determine the:
• types of evidence you include;
• structure of the portfolio; and
• tone of the descriptive and reflective narrative that accompanies your artefacts.
Thus, the content and presentation of a formal teaching portfolio will vary depending on its specific
purposes, but in general a teaching portfolio is a collection of documents that offers clear and detailed
evidence of teaching practices and goals, embedded in an explanation and application of your
personal teaching philosophy
Teaching Porfolio by NTC
Why do I need a teaching portfolio?
Portfolios act as valid, tangible sources of evidence of your teaching and learning achievements
against specific criteria.
Increasingly teaching portfolios are used to illustrate and substantiate claims
of peer review of teaching.
Portfolios are used as a focus for dialogues in probation, promotion and
tenure meetings, as well as visibly demonstrating teaching and learning achievements for reward and
recognition applications.
How should my teaching portfolio be structured?
There is no universally used format, although guidelines are often issued with requests for portfolios
and should be used if you are compiling a formal portfolio for a specific purpose.
In the absence of clear guidelines for a specific purpose there are a number of ways you could organise your collected
evidence.
These include:
• an annotated list of the items in your collection indicating the reason for the inclusion of each
item; or
• a reflective journal with reference to numbered items in the collection.
Evaluation information provided by students, colleagues and others
Student evaluations of your teaching;
• evaluations by colleagues, especially with regard to your course materials and content;
• unsolicited statements of appreciation from past or present students indicating that your
teaching was highly valued;
• invitations to facilitate workshops or courses, or to act as a consultant on teaching and learning
issues in your discipline or beyond;
• evaluations of workshops you have facilitated; and
• records of awards for teaching, or other forms of recognition of teaching excellence.
Products of good teaching
samples of student workbooks and essays;
• supervised theses and other evidence of success in postgraduate supervision;
• creative work, publications and other records of your students’ successes in academic or
professional areas directly relating to your area of teaching expertise; and
• students’ reflective journals
Evidence of a scholarly and professional interest in teaching
peer review of subject design and resources;
• records of steps you’ve taken to evaluate and improve your teaching, including records of
enrolment in workshops, seminars, or courses leading to qualifications in higher education;
• records of involvement in curriculum development, trials of innovative teaching methods or
action research into teaching and learning within your discipline area;
• records of involvement in professional societies and associations related to teaching and
learning in higher education;
• participation and leadership in University committees or sub-committees related to the
improvement of teaching and learning in higher education;
• published and cited research into teaching and learning in higher education;
• delivery of refereed conference papers on teaching and learning in higher education; and
• authoring teaching texts.
Validation criteria
Those reading your portfolio for probation, EDRS or promotion purposes will be seeking evidence on
the following elements of your portfolio. The teaching portfolio:
• is a living document, with signs of recent additions or amendments that reflect change
over time;
• contains a clear statement of your teaching philosophy and
evidence/discussion/explanation of how that philosophy has been applied in practice;
• demonstrates a reflective and scholarly approach to teaching;
• provides exemplars of current and past practice, e.g. through subject outlines, marking
guidelines, examples of student work etc.;
• provides evidence of how your teaching has influenced the learning of your students;
• includes self- and peer evaluation of your teaching and learning resources and
evidence of how you have acted on the results of this feedback;
• contains professional developmental goals/plans, e.g. your intent to change in
response to evaluation and feedback; identification of problems to be solved; your
experience of, or plans for continual professional learning or scholarship of teaching
and learning activities etc.; planning for your future career/personal development; and
• indicates how you have contributed towards the teaching and learning goals of your
school, faculty, University, including any contributions nationally and internationally.